New York Using Special Cameras To Fine Loud Cars

Big cities like London and New York are known, and loved for their hustle and bustle, but across the globe, authorities in big metropolitan areas are starting to combat the thing that makes these cities so vibrant: the noise, and more specifically, loud cars. Every gearhead knows how intoxicating the sound of abeautiful exhaust or engine notecan be, and with the mass adoption of EVs, this glorious cacophony of burning fossil fuels may soon come to an end. In the meantime, New York officials want to punish those whose cars make too much noise, and it's doing so my using some pretty advanced tech. We've previously reported on the Big Apple'sefforts to curb noise pollution, but it seems like the humans are no longer in control.

New York City's Department of Environmental Protection launched a pilot program in September 2021 that uses strategically placed sound meters to measure the decibel levels of offending vehicles. If a car is too loud, a camera takes a snap, and a computer system automatically sends the offending driver a warning or fine depending on the severity. The new program is unrelated to Governor Kathy Hochul's SLEEP bill, a vicious vendetta against cool-sounding cars that can see New Yorkers face fines of up to $1,000.

The new system is already sending foul-reading messages to owners of loud cars, and a photo of an official order from the New York City DEP sent to the driver of a BMW M3 was recently published on Facebook by a page called Lowered Congress.